The government of Iraq has decided to formally revoke CPA Order 17, a move that would open the door to prosecuting Blackwater employees in Iraqi courts for killing 17 civilians last month:"The cabinet held a meeting yesterday and decided to scrap the article pertaining to security companies operating in Iraq that was issued by the CPA (Coalition Provision Authority) in...
The European Council on Foreign Relations has just published a fascinating world survey and global "love/hate map." The "love map" and the "hate map" are especially fascinating because they identify which countries receive the highest approval and disapproval ratings in 52 countries. The survey results revealed the following: The largest survey of public opinion in the world shows...
Then try out this online International Law Quiz. Or this International Legal History Quiz. Let's drive up some of the numbers. Hat Tip: The aforementioned Space Law Probe ...
Even though it is a burgeoning field, Space Law doesn't always get the "air time" or recognition it deserves. Here are three blogs that make up for that. First, we at Opinio Juris want to welcome Res Communis, a new blog that is run by the National Center for Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law at the University of Mississippi...
As has been widely reported, a second Congolese warlord has been transferred to the ICC to stand trial:Germain Katanga, who led the Forces for Patriotic Resistance (FRPI) in Ituri, was flown from the capital, Kinshasa. Prosecutors say Mr Katanga - known as Simba - led the FRPI in Ituri in north-eastern DR Congo in 2003. He was arrested two years ago. He...
Last month the Seventh Circuit, per Judge Posner, rendered an especially ill-informed and badly written decision upholding a Illinois statute that banned the export or import of horsemeat for human consumption. In the case of Cavel International v. Madigan, the Seventh Circuit ruled that there was only incidental discrimination to foreign commerce and there was a rational basis to...
Okay, so it’s not easy to connect these dots, and I certainly wouldn’t pretend to have a generalizable theory here. But there’s a plausible story to be told in John Yoo’s ascent and the pretty clear damage done by his post-9/11 work at the Office of Legal Counsel. One can take Jack Goldsmith’s critique of Yoo’s OLC work...
My colleague Tim Zick has a post over at Co-Op about the "cyber protest" in Second Life in response to the crackdown in Burma. Admittedly skeptical about such cyber-activism at the outset, Tim writes about whether "virtual world" protests "will lead to greater social and political activism in existing 'meatspace.'" Another aspect of cyber-activism is how "virtual world" protests...
The Intlawgrrls bloggers have given up on their experiment with blogging under pseudonyms. The details are here. Notwithstanding that the pseudonyms had an initial educational value--highlighting the contributions of various historical figures--the fact that the postings were not truly anonymous always had me trying to click through to identify a post's actual author. As such, I...
YJIL has just posted the call for papers for the next Young Scholars' Conference. (Yale Law Students had guest blogged during the previous conference here.) I was on a faculty panel at last year's conference and was very impressed by the student presentations. It is a great opportunity for students who are interested in pursuing careers in international law. Here's...
First, I’d like to thank Professor Paust for his thoughtful response to my Article. He is one of only a handful of scholars who have written on this topic and I am grateful for his taking the time to respond. Our work surrounding the question of customary international law (CIL) in relation to the individual has taken us to very similar...
Christiana Ochoa’s article provides important insights into the relevance of various jurisprudential approaches to questions concerning the role of individuals and other nonstate actors in the international legal process. Her primary concern is whether individuals participate in the formation of customary international law. In sharp contrast to what she and too many others prefer to identify as a...
